State charges for Raymond, LeValley, McAllister dismissed in $1M embezzlement case; U.S. Attorney's Office expected to move forward with case

State charges against a former Yurok Tribe forestry director and two biologists accused of embezzling nearly $1 million from the tribe were dismissed Tuesday.

Del Norte County District Attorney Jon Alexander said the state case was dismissed without prejudice against Roland Raymond, 50, to allow the case to move forward through the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"No purpose is served with continuances here, which are needlessly clogging up our court system," he said.

Alexander said state charges have also been dismissed without prejudice against biologists Sean McAllister and Ron LeValley, who appeared alongside Raymond in court Tuesday. Del Norte County prosecutors and an FBI agent investigating the case allege the men conspired with Raymond to embezzle the funds from the Yurok Tribe through the consulting company Mad River Biologists.

All the men had pleaded not guilty to embezzlement and conspiracy charges.

The U.S. Attorney's Office filed a criminal complaint against Raymond in August, charging him with a single count of embezzlement from an Indian tribal organization.

McAllister's attorney Greg Rael said he had not heard if federal prosecutors plan to charge his client. U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Jack Gillund said Tuesday he could neither confirm nor deny whether federal charges have been filed against McAllister and LeValley.

Dismissing the charges without prejudice, Alexander said allows the state to refile the charges later "if we feel that justice is not meted out in the federal system."

"I want to stress that by dismissing the charges, we have by no means lost the jurisdiction to pursue this matter," he said. "I want to make sure the Yurok people and all of the victims of this crime know we have not abandoned them."

All three men are accused of using an elaborate system of fake invoices, false purchase requests and electronic bank transfers to embezzle more than $870,000 in federal funds from the Yurok Tribe during a three-year period of wildlife preservation studies. Raymond is suspected of embezzling additional funds from the tribe and the California Indian Forest and Fire Management Council through other false purchase requests, putting the embezzlement total in the $1 million range.

Raymond is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 14 at the federal courthouse in Eureka. If convicted in the case, he faces five years in prison, $250,000 in fines and a three-year term of supervised release.